On 3/27/2011 12:50 PM, kirk.stant wrote:

That's all great, but there aren't a lot of life threatening tasks
when landing a glider. Heck, in a 1-26, the only one is checking the
direction of the wind prior to entering the pattern - and even that
could be considered airmanship, not a task. In more complex gliders,
if you forget to dump your ballast you could fly the pattern too slow,
or if you leave the gear up it could get expensive fast, but what else
is life threatening - that isn't really just flying the glider?

In my glider, I use a pre-landing checklist (mnemonic, not written) that
has water, wheel, flaps, airbrakes, radio on it. I used to think it was
"just flying" to remember such a short list ("don't need no stinking
mnemonics"), but after forgetting every one of those over the course of
many years, some of them several times, I changed my mind. Had I been
using a checklist the entire time, I would have forgotten fewer times.

So far, I've gotten away with without serious problems, but the
potential for escalating a poor situation to a life threatening one is
the

* Water on board: that means a much faster landing, longer roll out, a
problem even on a runway; in an off-airport landing, it's double
trouble, with the greater chance of damage and gear collapse.

* landing gear not extended: that puts your bottom awfully close to the
rocks and more in a dirt field landing, and offers little protection for
your spine if you hit hard on runway. Oh yeah, the wheel brake doesn't
work at all, either, so let's hope you didn't land long.

* flaps still in cruise: this is a bit like landing with water, as
you'll probably hit pretty hard because the usual flare attitude won't
do much to arrest your downward motion. At least the wheel brake doesn't
have to slow down a couple hundred pounds of water.

* Airbrakes: they can malfunction, so it's good to know that before you
really need them; also, opening them will trigger your gear alarm, and
maybe prevent that problem, too.

* Radio: if it's set on the wrong frequency, or still turned off because
the chatter was distracting you during that low save 30 minutes ago, you
might not be aware of what's going on at the airport. Could be a problem...

I don't do the list in the pattern, but as I approach the airport. I use
the radio starting several miles away, with the flaps, airbrakes, and
wheel when I'm near the pattern. I'm planning to go to a nifty written
checklist like the one Mat Herron posted, as the more I fly, the more
aware I am that some structure helps.

I have to admit, when I do fly a fixed gear, unflapped, waterless
glider, no radio, it does seem so simple: show up the airport, look
around, land.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)